Durban
A gardener working for an Upper Highway family told on Thursday night how he ran for his life screaming in pain when garden refuse he set alight exploded in his face.
The worker escaped with burn wounds to his head and body but was discharged from hospital on Thursday afternoon, a few hours after his ordeal at the Waterfall home.
Panic stricken neighbours and residents from adjoining suburbs kilometres away, dialled the SA CAN community action hotline to inform them of the explosion.
Seven windows in the house where he was working were shattered. The force of the blast also opened several other windows and broke the handles. Nails in the ceiling boards came loose.
The victim, who only wanted be identified by his first name, Sizwe, 36, told the Daily News that he had pruned several trees and cleaned up the overgrown grass and verges.
The debris was loaded into the skip that the homeowner, who also did not want to be named, had hired for refuse removal.
“The skip was full and we had a load of rubble on the side of the house that needed to be removed. I decided to lessen the load in the bin by burning the garden refuse. I would have loaded the rubble later on,” Sizwe said.
However, the gardener had earlier also drained petrol from the Weed Eater and lawnmower into the skip. When he came to burn the garden refuse he tossed in a match and stepped back.
“I heard a huge bang. My ears were ringing and my shirt and hat were on fire. I heard glass shatter. I could not jump into the pool because I had put acid in it earlier to clean it.
“Lucky the skip bin was shoulder high, otherwise my body would have caught alight,” Sizwe explained.
The homeowner said she had been sitting with her mom and baby on the couch chatting when they heard the blast.
The impact of the explosion pushed them forward in their seats. They were stunned and did not know what had happened until Sizwe screamed: “I am on fire. I am burning. Help me.”
“A co-worker used a wet towel with ice (to get the flames out) and we put Sizwe under a cold shower before paramedics arrived,” she said.
The family believes the fire was caused when petrol vapour ignited. They are awaiting a report from fire officials.
Allan Cutten of Community Emergency Medical Support, said paramedics took the injured man to hospital with second degree burns.
Andreas Mathios of SA CAN Alert said they were inundated with frantic callers curious to know the cause of the explosion.